Adverse weather conditions in the castor growing regions of Gujarat and Rajasthan in March has led to a downward revision in the crop estimate for the oilseed.
The castor trade body Solvent Extractors’ Association of India (SEA) on Friday revised its castor crop estimate for the year 2019-20 to 19.52 lakh tonnes, down by about 84,000 tonnes from the earlier estimate of 20.3 lakh tonnes.
After the third round of the castor crop survey by the official survey agency Agriwatch, it was found that the strong winds, rains and hailstorms harmed the crop in some pockets of Gujarat and Rajasthan during March 2020.
It also noted that India’s average castor seed productivity for 2019-20 was slightly revised down to 1,968 kg/hectare against earlier estimate of 2,052 kg/ha.